To Abhor a Phoenix
by CaptainTsukiko
Summary: "I am both Eve and the apple, both the apple and God. Both choosing to eat the fruit and warning against it; both punishing and punished."


The soft velvet chair let a soft creak as you laid your body across it. The now lit lamp created ghostly shadows over the walls. You signed. Hong Kong was still the same. Trafficking, drugs; occasional disrupts in the more urban of your territories.

Everything was still same. Even after your impulsive journey to Japan a scarce week ago. Or should one say... to Takaba Akihito. You frowned at that line of thought and laid your hand on the switch of the lamp. Turning it, off. And on. And off. And then repeating the pattern.

The boy hadn't replied to your emails. Again. Takaba Akihito hadn't learned from your 'little' fiasco at all. Then again, when was the boy a pliant submissive? He spit fire from his mouth and glared like the whole world was his enemy.

In a way, they were. Innocence like his shouldn't get caught up in a world such as yours or Asami's. It was a world of cruelty. Using and being used was a daily occurrence. Those who displayed innocence equaled to fools such as Akihito. They laid; just waiting to get chewed up and spit out like trash.

But that wasn't the case with Aki, was it. The boy would probably chew them back. You let out a light chuckle after picturing Akihito, in a tiger costume; bearing his fangs and little claws. How cute. Perhaps you should gift him a tiger costume next time you visit him.

"Master! The bath is ready!" A cheerful Tao greeted you. Yes, your ward was cute too. Very adorable.

But why did it feel different from Akihito?

...You already knew the answer to that.

* * *

The room was dark and intimidating. The blond boy laid haphazardly across the silk sheets. Mouth open and almost drooling, his cheongsam torn and disposed of from before. You could slap him awake; make him leave and go back to his dreary cell, but you don't. You just stare quietly from your spot against the window sill.

There was something distinctly young about Akihito's face. Even you had at first thought he was a high school student, if not for Wu Zhens report of him being in his early twenties. You didn't know what it was that made him look so boyish. Was it the soft, small mouth? Or those cornflower blue eyes that bled fire?

 _"Of course it's personal between you two! You just—"_ Then, the boy had not finished for his mouth was caught in a lusty kiss. Saliva, whiskey and opium. The kiss was sure to repulse the other. And at that time, that was your intention.

Be repulsed. Be broken. Drown in despair, you had thought. Then you could show that man your chef-d'œuvre. A masterpiece out of his whore—enslaved and deformed to unimaginable heights. And Asami's face would satisfy you. And then you could take that boy in front of him and it would be sweet.

And you had disheveled the boy then. Tossed and turned him. Over and over until his pained screams could no longer make your heart burn.

And now, the truth of his words dawned upon your bleak little lair. What had the boy wanted to say? "You just want to get back at Asami"? "You just want to hurt me"? Or is it, "You just want to get revenge for your feelings"?

Which ever of those Akihito wanted to say, you knew it in your bones that all of them were true.

And you watched his face. All innocence, unknowing trust and juvenility. The moon light glinted off his shackles. And you're suddenly reminded of a that man. A man who's eyes glinted the same way. The mental image angered your pride. It dared to invade your well-wrought ego.

You could beat him; Asami's whore. It would be like beating and winning over a part of Asami himself. You could fuck him till he's can no longer function properly. You could manipulate his desires, make him bleed, make him burn. But you know that you would rather not. The knowledge made frustration rule in your brain. Anger, frustration, sadness. They were the very liquid that flowed through your veins. And you turn to enter the balcony—

"You're not... going back to your room?" Sleep ridden voice greets your hearing and tears at your already riled up heartstrings. The boy was still half-asleep, You mused.

"No." You gave an explanation before you can hold yourself, "The elevator's not working."

"Then just contact the owner."

"I am the owner."

Realisation dawned upon that boyish face. And he inwardly reprimanded himself for his own foolishness. The boys actions were written plain as day allover his face. It would be so easy, too easy to cut this fool up and send his organs back to Asami.

But you don't. Because you would rather see this boy alive and...

You don't dare to finish that thought.

Silence continued to reign across the room as Akihito fell back asleep. And the lights suddenly flashed over the room. Bathing it in heaven like light. But you don't move from your spot leaning on the wall behind you.

But when you do, it's to lay yourself down beside that nubile body. And you grip his hay like hair, gently this time. And a strange tingle spread all your body. You finally close your eyes as the first ray of light entered your once dark hole.

After all, days do go on.

Only for you, it's too fast.


End file.
